Josh Jackson’s attorney: Father of KU women’s player single-handedly creating a narrative that is not accurate’

Friday

Mar 10, 2017 at 3:46 PM

Matt Galloway

LAWRENCE — An attorney for Kansas men’s basketball player Josh Jackson has accused the father of KU women’s player McKenzie Calvert of painting an inaccurate picture of the aftermath of a Dec. 9 confrontation between the two athletes.

Scott Boatman, a Denver-based attorney who represents Jackson and other athletes, said Tim Calvert is manipulating the truth, including comments made in a Thursday report in The Kansas City Star that cited the father as saying Jackson’s legal team "wanted to pay to make it all go away" through restitution, where "money is no object, within reason," according to the report.

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Calvert is single-handedly creating a narrative that is not accurate," Boatman said in a Friday statement to The Topeka Capital-Journal. "It is clear that he is frustrated with several parties and with matters unrelated to Josh, yet he continues to manipulate the facts as it relates to a good faith offer of restitution."

The statement was forwarded to The Capital-Journal by Hatem Chahine, a Lawrence-based attorney who Boatman has retained for Jackson’s criminal cases.

Jackson is accused of damaging McKenzie Calvert’s car after the latter threw a drink in teammate Lagerald Vick’s face during a confrontation just before 2 a.m. Dec. 9 at the Yacht Club bar and restaurant in Lawrence. Tim Calvert told The Star the restitution offer came Feb. 4, nearly two months after the incident and two days after the newspaper reported Jackson and Vick were persons of interest in the vandalism investigation, which eventually resulted in a misdemeanor property damage charge against Jackson on Feb. 24.

Regarding the allegation that Jackson’s legal team "wanted to pay to make it all go away," Boatman said Tim Calvert requested those restitution discussions.

"Mr. Calvert specifically requested that we discuss restitution with his attorney," Boatman said, "and we complied with his request."

Citing Jackson’s pending arraignment for the property damage charge on April 12 in Douglas County District Court, Boatman said there would be no further comment on the incident or its fallout.

"Because of the pending criminal case, we are ethically bound not to comment further on this matter," Boatman said, "but it is our hope that any further reporting will authenticate statements with fact and not emotion.

"Josh looks forward to moving past this so that he is able to focus on school and basketball."

Tim Calvert told The Star that no one contacted him before Feb. 4 and that it was "never about money for me" but rather about the treatment of his daughter, whom he claims was treated unfairly and lost playing time after she reported the incident to police.

McKenzie Calvert said she was suspended by coach Brandon Schneider shortly after the Dec. 9 confrontation but added it was later lifted before her team’s Dec. 11 game against Rhode Island. Already removed from the KU starting lineup prior to the Dec. 9 incident, Calvert played 34 minutes in a Dec. 21 contest against UC Riverside — tied for her second-longest appearance of the season — but saw her minutes dwindle throughout Big 12 play, where she shot 23.2 percent from the field with 14 assists and 25 turnovers.

Jackson was not publicly reprimanded for the Dec. 9 incident, and KU men’s coach Bill Self said the team handled Jackson’s punishment in-house. Self and the team have not disclosed the nature of Jackson’s punishment, though Jackson did serve a one-game suspension Thursday following the discovery of a separate inattentive driving incident Feb. 2, when he is accused of backing into a parked car and leaving the scene without leaving contact information.

Jackson missed KU’s 85-82 defeat to TCU on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. Self said the suspension was "not the result of a singular event" and rather the culmination of multiple things, including Jackson withholding the incident from KU coaches until Monday.

Jackson is scheduled to appear in Lawrence Municipal Court on March 27 for the Feb. 2 incident, facing charges of striking an unattended vehicle, improper backing and inattentive driving.

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